From this to that

From This

To That

A few weeks ago Alex and I, along with a few others, went to try to get a shot out at Echo Lake. It was a beautiful day with a big feature. Alex always has an eye for features that will make him stand out amongst the crowd. This feature was a rail gap over a stream that was about 30 ft long. It took us about 2-3 hours to get set up with lots and lots of digging. He did a few speed checks before actually attempting the trick. When we started the session nobody was around except us. He hit the rail a couple of times and fell just short of completing the whole thing. We took 5 and gathered our thoughts. At that time 2 men that were cross country skiing came up on us and wanted to watch. This made Alex a little nervous. When he attempted the rail the third time it didn't go as planned. He fell over the wrong side of the rail, slammed against the opposite wall of the gap, and fell right into the stream. Upon landing in the stream, he broke his tibia and fibula. This wasn't just a break though, he shattered the bones into ten different pieces right under his knee. Alex knew right away that he had broken his leg but somehow he was still able to stand until one of the onlookers and I ran to grab a hold on him. We carried him out of the stream and laid him down in the snow. Right after the accident, by some grace of god, an orthopedic surgeon and his wife came walking by. (Remember this is in the middle of the back country.)

After we assessed how bad the break was we called search and rescue. We knew there was no way we could carry him out. The surgeon made a splint with sticks and some of my rope while I ran to find a ladder at the summer cabins that could act as a stretcher. We turned my snowboard upside down and placed it on the ladder so that it made a flat surface. We then layed him on the stretcher and carried him to a secure location to protect him from the beating sun and the rotor wash from the helicopter. Unfortunately the Heli could not land because of the wind conditions. We waited about another hour for the search and rescue teams to arrive with a snowmobile and carriage.

All in all it took about 2 hours from the time of the injury until the time he was in an ambulance. This is a great example of being prepared and using your instinct when something bad goes wrong. When venturing out in the back counrty always have a simple rescue equipment on hand in case something goes extremely wrong. Luckily I had the rope to stabilize his leg and my early planning led me to quickly locate a device to carry alex to a protected location. The number 1 item that should always be carried while in the back country is a phone. Without that we either would have had to leave him behind to meet up with search and rescue or carry his ass all the way out. the number 2 item that should always be carried is rope. Without rope we could have damaged his leg even worse. Plus if I wouldn't have found a ladder we would have needed to make a stretcher out of tree branches. I hope everyone who reads this excerpt will think twice about where they are going and always be prepared for the worst.

Alex is doing fine and healing well. He'll be back on his own two feet in about a month and ready to shred in 2. I want to thank Merrick for all his help that day. I also want to thank the four people that volunteered their time to help us get Alex out of there. And finally thank you search and rescue for their assistance in retrieving Alex.

Nike Chosen Event at Heavenly

Heavenly Mountain felt like the X-Games tonight during the Nike Chosen event. The jump was prime, the lights were stellar, and the crowd was pumped. A number of Lake Tahoe's top amateur snowboarders battled it out in a jam format competition. The set up consisted of a 70 ft jump with a close out rail, wall ride, and quarter pipe all tucked into the jumps gap. Quite an impressive set up by Snow Park Technologies and Heavenly Terrain Park Crew. If you didn't make it you missed out on what was probably the biggest competition held in Lake Tahoe this year. Here are some photos to show what it looked like.


The reason they call it Heavenly. BJ Linne spinning his carcass during the practice runs.


The scary view of the jump drop in.


PNUT going big.


They're going so fast!


The finalists waiting to drop.


Mystery Rider launching the finals.


Jordan Nield showing off in the final round.




Twin Double Corks by the Geisen Twins, Nick and Chris.







I was trying to show the motion of the riders while stealing some flash from other photographers. it kind of worked but not really.


Best Trick winner. I think he received $500. He jumped off the top of the left side of the jump into the transition for the close out wall ride.


Heavenly's own, Joanna "PNUT" Dzierzawski, with the win for the ladies. Taking home some cash as well. PNUT was throwing some big stylish 3's over that hunk of snow. Hats off


And the mens winners are: 3rd place Nick Geisen, 2nd Place Jordan Nield, and 1st Place Nick Poohachoff. All in all there was $5000 in cash given away to the winners. Good Job to everyone who participated and great job to the staff that set everything up from organizing to building. It was definitely an eventful night for South Lake.

Do what ya can

The other day I was blessed to go out on the sleds with a couple of neversummer riders. I've never gotten to ride a mountain sled before so it made for an exciting day. Plus the fact that we have barely any snow and we were able to go out and build a mini booter and have some fun was a huge moral booster. Heres a little shot from the day. Thanks Nick for teaching me how to run a snow-mo. Sooo fun and easy. Next year hopefully I have one in my hands.


Rider: Nick Brownsberger

Saturday night is the Nike Chosen event. Lets hope i can snipe some good shots!

Holidays are done, Shooting has begun

Finally the busy holiday season is over. I can finally have a little time off work to go out and snipe some photos. Although there's not much happenin' because of the drought, I still manage to find some people willing to throw down and get some shots. Heres a shot of NeverSummer Rider Nick Brownsberger doing his thing.



I got another day full of shooting tomorrow and then another full work week ahead of me. Soon we will get some snow and shooting will be full speed

The Blog is BACK!!!

DAAYYYYYUUUUUUMMM!!!! Its been more than 6 months since I've posted. Isn't that some BS or what? Sorry bout that. But good news is I am bringing it back to life! Except it's not going to be something sundays. I'm just going to write about my projects or my adventures.

So far no snow this season. Thank God for Heavenly's snowmakers!!!! Theyre the ones out working their asses off just to let people shred an awesome park. Props to them!

Lately I've just been working a lot since there is no snow. I've also been shooting for this company called RA Optics. I've been doing more commercial shots with them such as product shots and portrait/lifestyles. I'm hoping something big comes from this company one day. I see a lot of potential. Other than that just out sniping some people just to get out and actually shoot.



Here I was out sniping one day while the Geisen twins were out shredding. They're a couple of twins snowboarding climbing in the local pro scene. Hoping some day I can get linked up with them and get a little shooting in, that'd be sick!

Anyways, I'll try to stay more on top of this blog thing. I did miss, not gonna lie.

Peace,
-Geno Fonderoli

Sumthin Sunday Wk 25- 6 months

Although I did miss last weeks post(busy working and Laura came to visit), it has been 6 months since I started Sumthin Sundays. It a fun little side project that always keeps me thinking. The only problem is I haven't had any days to shoot what I really want to. Work takes up 6 days a week and on my day off, all my portrait subjects are busy and everyone wants to do something fun. Nobody wants to sit around and listen to me direct their posture while they stare into a flashing strobe when it's 80 degrees. So I've decided to show some shots from my shoot at Squaw. I never got a response back from his team manager so I'm going to let everyone peep some of my new stuff.

Here's Nick Langkamp, HMK Factory Team Rider, Snowboard-cross






Thank you everyone for staying loyal to my blog. I'll try my best to keep my photos as new and fresh as possible.

Peace!

Sumthin Sunday Wk 24- Shit, It's Monday

Damn I forgot again. I suck! But I have been super busy, working 6 days a week now, and just finished the final for my class I needed to graduate. Now that schools pretty much over I can finally relax a little and actually get some sun.

Last week Matt and I hiked the peak at Donner Pass. It took a few hours. We first had to hike through the tunnels then hand to hike to the top. When we got to the top there was a 50 ft rock that we were able to climb and chill in the sun at the top for about an hour. The ride down was super fun. We were triggering heavy, slow moving slides. They weren't dangerous but definitely a hazard.

On the walk back through the tunnels I decided to shoot some of the Ice with gels on my flashes. Here's a couple photos.

Sumthin Sunday Wk 23- Never doing that again

Last Monday I went to squaw to do a shoot and I'm pretty sure I received a slight concussion in result of a rider/photographer collision. I was with professional snowboard-cross racer, Nick Langkamp, trying to shoot some close-up, super layed-out, carves. This was the first angle of the day as I planned on shooting some portraits and other action angles. I did get a handful of photos but I have to save those.
By no means is this a good photo, but here's the shot right before collision:


You can tell I was in a horrible spot in the first place. I kept getting some decent results with him whizzing right by me, so i just wanted to keep inching in. Apparently I wasn't thinking too clearly about my positioning and the inconsistency of the snow texture, so I got hit.

At first I had no clue what happened until I grabbed my head in pain then saw Nick down also. I saw when I took this photo that I had to move so I ducked to the ground and his helmet nailed my camera right into my head. The hot shoe scraped my fore head and I think a piece of helmet cut Nicks face a little. Nothing serious. I continued through the rest of the day and didn't get the serious headache until the drive home. I had a headache the next day and a little the day after. Pretty crazy incident. I get the chills every time I picture it. Shit hurt.

Also, If everyone could go to WWW.YOBEAT.COM and vote in this weeks photo battle, that would be greatly appreciated. They have my name by the photo and in the voting tab so it's easy to vote for me. If you hate me for some reason or really dislike my photo and like the other better than vote for the other one, just at least vote.

Molto Apprezzata!

Sumthin Sunday Wk 22- Broaden Your Horizons

And we're back on time.

In my quest to be a photographer I've found I must do more than just snowboarding action photos. Recently I've been working to develop a portfolio of portraits and action photos from different sport disciplines. I've also chosen to do these photos with athletes whom I never met until the day of the shoot. This will help me practice working with people at the spur of the moment. Last week I shot a couple of Amateur MMA Fighters over at the Recreation Center. Take a peak at the the ones I thought were better at showing more personality and determination.





I also got to experiment with some new equipment during this shoot. I bought an adapter to use an older Minolta f1.8 50mm prime lens. I also bought some Rogue stackable speedlight grids. The top photo is using the 45 degree. The bottom photo is using the 26 degree. I'm stoked I bought these things, very useful!

Tomorrow I will be shooting a Snowboard Cross racer at Squaw. Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day. Later in the week I am also looking at shooting a guy who does Adventure Racing, a combination of trail running, mountain biking, and kayaking. Unfortunately it is a team sport, so we decided to shoot some mountain biking. Hopefully in the future we may get the team together for a shoot.

Sumthin Sunday Wk 21- "But it's Tuesday"

Ya I know, I missed the post by a couple of days. It was because I was with my family and pretty busy. The internet at the place we were staying was also really, really slow.

We had a lot of fun while they were here. My mom, sister and I went mountain biking. My dad, Marco, and I also went fishing on another day. I got to play with little Lyla, and spend time with my older sister as well.



I'm going to miss them a bunch! Only 6 more months until I get to see them again. It should fly by pretty fast

Sumthin Sunday Wk 20- Last Photo Contest

Rider: Alex Fitzgerald

I entered this photo into Transworld's last photo contest about 2 weeks ago, and I did not win. Unfortunately, this will be the last Transworld photo contest I participate in. For the past two years I have consistently made the top 10 in more than a handful of these contests, so I now feel my work has been noticed. It's time for me to focus on marketing myself and my work, especially since I graduate in June and have to enter the real world.

I will still be entering for YOBEAT's photo battle. It's a contest where a photo goes one-on-one for one week to see who can get the most votes. The photographer that lasts 4 weeks in a row gets entered into the hall of fame. It's a fun contest and allows for good critiquing opportunities also.

Although my first goal in photography was to win a Transworld contest, I have at least received awards. Let's hope I can get some more next Sunday at the 2011 Student Art Exhibition.

Thanks for viewing!

Geno Fonderoli

Sumthin Sunday Wk 19- Water fall

Here's another photo from our emerald bay exploration. We built a small quarter pipe on the other side of this tree root that was next to a waterfall. Nothing special.


Rider: Alex Fitzgerald

Sumthin Sunday Wk 18- Spring is here!

Spring finally made it to Tahoe after a very snowy season. Since the resorts are closing, there's nothing better to do then to go out to familiar spots and hike and build with some good friends. We're drinking the beers and soaking up the sun all while grabbing some photos and learning some tricks. Spring in Tahoe is the absolute best time of the season.

Just last week a few of us pondered around the emerald bay area looking for a something to session. We ended up finding this small patch of snow chilling on a cliff. Directly across from it was a snow dump off from another cliff. We decided to gap over the hiking trail and more rocks from said patch to said pile of snow.



Here is Alex Fitzgerald bustin a gangster air on the first hit. I also bagged a shot of Claire SENDING it with a huge Indy grab with a slightly different angle. Cross your fingers, maybe we'll see it in print!

A bunch of us are planning on going to Donner pass tomorrow so hopefully next Sunday I'll have another shot to show everyone what Spring Backcountry is all about.

Sumthin Sunday Wk 17- Is he moving?

Heres another photo going towards an assignment for commercial photo. We are suppose to use gels and a longer exposure to get a photo. I've been thinking of this for a few days now and finally shot it. I used a bulb exposure with a remote. Triggered my flashes with my pocketwizards then ran behind the frame with christmas lights to make a streak. I used an orange gel on a flash behind the rider to simulate a street light glow on the inside of his helmet and I used a green gel pointed right at him at an angle just enought to catch it on the helmet and bike. This gel is to simulate a green traffic light. Then I used another flash shooting through white sheets to soften it and light the front of the bike. It was a fun and chaotic shoot to say the least. Im going to take a few more photos for this assignment just to broaden my portfolio.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Sumthin Sunday Wk 16- Commercial Photo

I just started a new class at school called Commercial Photography. I'm really stoked about this class. It's more of the type of photography I want to get in to so I can make that money. We get to play with dyna-lite strobes in class every week. These strobes are super dynamic with all kinds of different power variable and lighting tools, i.e. soft boxes, grids, dishes. I've had experience with this kind of equipment before through assisting other photographers but it is always a new experience every time they are used. After I buy a few more lenses this summer my next investment will be on a pack of nice strobes for sure. Here are a few rough samples of my first week shooting with strobes.

Sumthin Sunday Wk 15- Road Gap gone wrong!

I'm sure everyone saw the photo of Brad jumping over the road in an earlier post. Well, Brad went to do it again and it just didn't work out right. The jump washed his legs out cuz of the lip. Here's the sequence:


After he hit I immediately put my camera down and rushed to him. I took off his board while alex lifted his arms up to help him breath. Brad started choking on some spit, we all though it was blood until it actually came up. there was a serious worry about internal injuries because he hit this snowbank right on his left side right in the gut. I rushed him to the ER. Luckily after some tests we found out nothing was broken or damgaed. Just some muscle tears and bruised ribs. He is seriously super lucky. If he would've landed straight on his back, he would've been paralyzed.

Moral of the story, don't come up short on road gaps.

Brad is recovering well and will be back on the board next week.

Birds, rails, and water

Entered this photo in the Spring Contest for Transworld.

Rider:Alex Fitzgerald



Here's another photo contest I got chose for.
GO TO yobeat.com and vote in the photo battle!!

Sumthin Sunday Wk 14- A little Urban for ya

This last week was really fun. My pelvis is feeling good and I have been able to get out and shoot a little more. I recently just met a few people down to get down on the urban shit. I was able to shoot a road gap and another deck gap.

Here are the photos:

Rider Levi Chaffin throwin down the shifty before moving on to the flips and spins.


Brad Sorensen sends his carcass over this big road gap in South Lake. We're definately re-shooting this feature real, real soon.

I was super stoked on the riders I met this week, it's just too bad we have to hurry before all the snow melts. There's always next season, but of course I can't forget about our May and June Donnor pass jumps.

Can't Wait!

Sumthin Sunday Wk 13- Skate Park

Despite my broken pelvis, I can still manage to get out and shoot some urban style photos. Today Nick Brownsberger called me and arranged a session at the local skate park in South Tahoe. The skate Park was super filled in but there was still a little vert wall left. Nick had a snowmobile for a tow in so it made speed super easy.

I tried use the sun as a back light and use few other flashes to balance the light. I knew of a few things I could have fixed but one of the flashes was sort of inaccessible for me.


Not sure what trick Stoney did here but it was the steezier of the bunch with the sunburst.

Then the clouds started rolling thick.


Claire working on her Vert game


Nick Brownsberger Rockin' and Rollin'

All in all no keepers but it was super fun to get out of the house and take some photos. We're going to wait for the snow to melt out a little bit and rock some handplant shots, maybe get creative at night.
Can't wait to shoot again

Sumthin Sunday Wk 12- Broken Pelvis

So yesterday, during an epic pow day, on my third run right before I had to go to work, I broke my pelvis. We had just gotten about 18 inches and I wanted to do some runs before I had to go to work at 10:30. So Joe, Dave, and I went up to Heavenly at 8:30 and started raging the trees skiers right of "the face". We traversed further this time with the intention of riding down to Keller road then traverse to the tram. The only problem was this part of the mountain was a little more of a west face so it got more sun throughout the day. The coverage was not as trustworthy and I noticed this. I took gentle turns through the whole run and watched for imperfections in the snow. We got about 100 yds from the bottom in some tighter trees and I was going a decent speed. As soon as I took a toe edge turn in an open spot I hit a small log on top of the snow. This caused my edge to slip out from under me. I tried to save it as I saw myself getting closer to the tree. At the last second I realized I was going to hit this tree with a giant force so I braced myself with my shoulder and forearm to protect my ribs. I hit the tree with the nose of my snowboard and then flew directly into it on my left side from my shoulder down to my knee. I'm very lucky I didn't hit my head, I'd have to say that my ability to see it coming saved me from head trauma.

Right when I hit I screamed bloody murder because I didn't see Joe or Dave. Luckily Joe was a little behind me and came up on my injured carcass right after impact. Dave rode down and got ski patrol while Joe carted my ass down out of the trees about 60 feet so ski patrol could get to me easier.

I want to thank Dave and Joe for all the help. If I would've been out there by myself it would have been a worse situation. Luckily my break is not that bad. I just need to rest for a couple weeks and keep a little movement going so that I don't tighten up too much. 6 weeks til I'm completely secure and ready to strap back in. Hopefully the Heav extends the season past April 24 so I can ride some groomers. Otherwise, I'll still be shooting some urban shots so don't worry, Sumthin Sunday is not going anywhere.

Thanks for all the get well wishes. My positive thinking and drive to get off this couch will help speed the healing process.